Collapsible boring head with collapsible plow



April 24, 1956 CARTUDGE ET AL 2,743,094

COLLAPSIBLE BORING HEAD WITH COLLAPSIBLE PLOW Filed on. 25, 1954 s Sheets-Shet 1 IN VEN TOR.

Frank Cartlidge Flg 1 BY Herman E.Smirh April 24, 1956 CARTUDGE ET AL 2,743,094

COLLAPSIBLE BORING HEAD WITH COLLAPSIBLE PLOW Filed Oct. 25, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I V r ,.v/ 6% F 2 INVENTOR.

1 Frank Cartlidge BY Herman E. Smith ATTORNEY April 24, 1956 F. CARTLIDGE ET AL 2,743,094

COLLAPSIBLE BORING HEAD WITH COLLAPSIBLE PLOW Filed Oct. 25, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 (.5 17 "W lm.\\\ml FIg. 4 27 L M INVENTOR.

v Frank Carflidge i BY Herman E. Smith f2 fiy y 4 2 6 ATTORNEY COLLAPSIBLE BORING 'HEAD WITH 'COLLAPSI'BLE PLOW Frank Cartlidge, Chicago, and Herman Smith, "Park Forest, Ill., assignors' to Goodman Manufacturing 'Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application October 25, 1954, Serial No. 464,204

4 Claims. (Cl. 2627) This invention relates to-improvements in'boring'heads 'for mining machines and more particularly to boring heads having a plurality of ra'dially projecting cutter carrying arms arranged for hingedcollapsing movement toward the axis of rotation of the boring head in order to reduce the diameter of the latter for facilitating the withdrawal of the head from a previously cut bore and also for facilitating tramming of the mining machine from place to place.

Boring heads of the kind used on mining machines are usually provided with plows or sweeps adjacent the outer ends of the radial arms, which extend toward the advancing sides of said arms to deflect or guide the material dislodged by the boring operation into position to be loaded onto a conveyor forming part of the machine.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a hinged arm structure of the character above described, together with a plow or sweep arranged to swing forwardly through considerably greater range of hinged movement so as to afford greater compactness and lateral clearance for the arm structure when it is in its collapsed position.

Other objects of the invention will appear,fro1n time to time as the following description proceeds.

The invention may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of a boring head constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the boring head of Figure 1, showing the head in normal fully extended cutting position in the working face of a mine.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view of one of the arms of the cutting head shown in Figure 1, with said arm and its plow or sweep in forwardly hinged fully collapsed position.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring now to details of the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, a cutter head indicated generally at 1i has as its main elements a hub 11 with hollow projections 12, a pair of relatively long radially extending arms 13 hinged to said projections on pivot pins 14. Each arm 13 has a plow 15 at one side thereof. The boring head also has a pair of shorter fixed arms 16 intermediate the longer arms and disposed at right angles thereto. A tapered burster cone 17 with a pilot bit 21 is fixed to the front end of the hub 11 concentrically thereof.

The longer hinged arms 13 each have two forwardly extending cutter supports 18, 19 with bit clusters 18a and 19a thereon for cutting circular kerfs A and B in the working face. The shorter arms 16, when used, have similar cutter supports 20 with bit clusters 2630 for cutting a kerf C of smaller diameter.

The hub 11 encloses suitable mechanism for causing hinged adjustment of the pivoted arms 13, which mecha- 'ice 2 application of Frank Cartlidge "bearing Serial No. 463,867 filed October 22, 1954 and-which need not be more fully shown or described herein as it forms no essential part of the present invention.

Referring now to features of thehingedarms '13 and the plows 15, which constitute an illustrative embpdimerit of the present invention, it will ,be seen 'in Figures 2 and 3 .that rear faces "22 of the hinged arms at the outer ends thereof are bevelled at an angle of approximately 45 to the axisof rotation of theboring head when the arms are disposed in normal fully extended cutting position at right'angles -10 said axis of rotation. The arrangement is suchthat when the arms are swung forwardly .to their fully Collapse'd position shown in .Figure 3, thelbevelledfaces 22Iwill then'be substantiallyparalle'l to the axis of rotationof'theboring head. Thisatfords maximum radial clearance for the arms 13.

Each of the plows 15 consists of va laterallyandiearwardly angled plate 23 having a flanged'base 24 which is pivotally mounted on the side face of the adjacent hinged arm 13 by a laterally extending pivot pin 26. The latter pin may be threadedly engaged in said arm as shown and has an enlarged head 26a fitting in a boss 24a at the rear flanged edge of the plow near the inner corner of the latter. The plow also has an extension 27 at its inner rear corner with a downwardly and inwardly extending cam slot 28 formed therein. A pin 29 is fixed to the side wall 12a of the adjacent hub extension 12 and is slidably engaged in the guide slot 28.

The outer end of the plate 23 is preferably cut away at a laterally and inwardly inclined angle to form a scraping edge 30 to which a semi-flexible extension 31 of rubber or rubber-like material is secured as by bolts When the plows 15 are in their fully extended position they serve their usual function of engaging loose material within the bore in advance of their respective cutter arms 13, and due to their rearwardly inclined position, aid in moving or deflecting the loose material rearwardly into position to be gathered upon and removed by a conveyor (not shown). It will be seen by comparison of Figures 2 and 3, however, that if the plows are fixed to the arms 13, and the latter are moving forwardly to their collapsed position as in Figure 3, that the outer rear corner of each plow would project radially beyond the paths of the bevelled faces 22 of the arms, and increase the working diameter of the boring head correspondingly. Since the plows 15 are offset laterally from their respective arms, the increase in Working diameter of the boring head due to the plows 15 would be considerably greater than that appearing from viewing Figure 2.

However, by reason of the novel form of hinged connection of the plows 15 to the sides of their respec tive arms, and the slotted engagement of the cam slots 28 at the base of said plows by pins 29 on the hub, as shown, the plows will be automatically swung forwardly with, but at progressively greater angles than said arms, so as to assume a substantially greater angle to their normal radial position than their arms when the arms are in their fully collapsed forward positions. For instance, in the illustrative embodiment shown, each plow will be swung through an angle of approximately so that their rear edges are substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the boring head, while their respective arms will be swung forwardly only about one half as much, that is to say, at an approximate angle of 45 to the axis of rotation of the boring head. In this way, the plows are withdrawn inwardly so as to be entirely within the radii of their respective arms when the arms are swung forwardly to their fully collapsed positions shown in Figure 3. Similarly, when the arms are swung outwardly to their normal boring position,

the plows will be swung faster than the arms, so as to resume their normal scraping and deflecting positions shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Although I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the exact construction shown and described, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a boring head for mining machines having a rotary hub, a plurality of cutter carrying arms having outer end portions hinged on said hub for forward collapsing movement relative to the axis of rotation of said hub to reduce the diameter of said boring head, each of said arms having a rearwardly and laterally inclined plow extending along one side thereof, hinged to said arm for forward collapsing movement relative to said arm, and cam means coacting between each plow and a portion fixed to said hub, for causing said plow to swing forwardly and rearwardly at progressively greater angles than the arm on which said plow is hinged, so as to retract said plow within the radius of its arm when the latter is in forwardly collapsed position.

2. The structure in accordance with claim 1, wherein the arms have bevelled faces at their rear outer corners, and the rear outer corners of their respective plows normally project beyond the paths of rotation of said bevelled faces when the arms are in their fully extended boring positions, but are retracted within the paths of rotation of said arms when the latter are in forwardly collapsed positions.

3. The structure in accordance with claim 1, wherein each plow is hinged to its arm adjacent the inner rear corner of the plow.

4. The structure in accordance with claim 2, wherein the cam means comprises a forwardly and inwardly inclined guide disposed at the inner rear corner of the plow, and a pin in fixed relation to the hub and slidably movable along the guide on the hinged plow.

No references cited. 

